Colorado Republican Chosen To Lead Party

January 18, 1997|By DAVID LIGHTMAN; Washington Bureau Chief

WASHINGTON — R. James Nicholson, a Colorado Republican activist, was elected GOP chairman Friday after a lengthy struggle that pitted the party's tattered Northeastern moderate wing against much of the rest of the country.

Following the pattern of recent years, the Northeast, particularly New England, lost.

The election of the 58-year-old Nicholson on the Republican National Committee's sixth ballot proved to be fresh evidence that the GOP is having trouble showing any empathy for, let alone strength in, the region.

President Clinton carried every state north of Maryland in the November election, and New England elected just four Republicans to its 23 congressional seats.

Former New Hampshire Gov. Stephen Merrill had waged a strong campaign for party chairman, with Connecticut Republicans actively lobbying for his election. David Norcross, a committeeman from New Jersey, also was very much in the running.

A blend of conservatism and Western roots helped Nicholson win.

``Sometimes the people in the East have to remember this is a big country. They have to look beyond the East,'' said Christine Burtt, spokeswoman for Nicholson.

After his election, Nicholson, a favorite of the party's conservative wing, left no doubt where he stood.

``I intend to be a forceful messenger for our conservative ideals and values,'' he said.

Cringing moderate New Englanders tried to be diplomatic. ``I'll be very supportive of his policies and try to be a strong influence,'' said Connecticut Chairman Chris Depino.

Electing a party chairman is very much an insider's game, but one with enormous repercussions. The party chairman instantly becomes not only one of the party's most public voices in non-election years, but the person who directs the organization and raises the money for elections to come.

Outgoing Chairman Haley Barbour, with his Mississippi drawl and sharp political tongue, became a familiar face to news watchers, and Democratic General Chairman Christopher J. Dodd of Connecticut, who leaves office Tuesday, also became a well-known national figure.

Democrats are expected to replace Dodd with Colorado Gov. Roy Romer, President Clinton's choice. Replacing Barbour was a tougher game, since the GOP has no one central figure who can dictate who is to lead the party.

As a result, this fight became a fight for the soul of the party, and the 165 voting committee members had to indulge in some elaborate political parlor games.

``It's all about relationships,'' said Depino. To build such relationships, he was promising train whistles to members and inviting them to his room for ``Vino Depino,'' his homemade wine.

It was that kind of lobbying by others, though, that may have doomed the slick Merrill campaign. There was lots of talk about his personal life -- he has been married three times -- and concerns that he would rely on party office-holders for advice rather than rank-and-file committee folk.

Jo McKenzie, committeewoman for Connecticut, attacked those charges head-on in her seconding speech for Merrill.

``Steve Merrill and his wife have faced some horrible personal attacks,'' she said, as she urged members to ignore the allegations.

The plea did not work. Merrill could not grow beyond his base of about 45 votes -- 83 were needed for election -- and lost.

New England's problem

The Northeast, and particularly the New England states, have become the Republican Party's most obvious obstacle to national success.

For years, these states were bastions of what was called Rockefeller Republicanism, named for the former New York governor who had a reputation for being liberal on social issues and fairly conservative on fiscal matters.

That philosophy, though, clashed with the push for smaller government and more conservative moral values that drove the party to its greatest triumphs in the 1970s and 1980s.

Those social theories were notably at odds with what most New Englanders believed. Support for an Equal Rights Amendment, a staple of GOP platforms for decades, was dropped. A woman's right to choose was opposed.

At the same time, the South and West began to dominate party affairs. President Reagan was governor of California before becoming president. President Bush, who grew up in Connecticut, claimed Texas as his home state.

The House speaker is from Georgia. The Senate majority leader and Barbour are from Mississippi.

A perception was cemented in the public mind that the party was barely interested in New England's points of view. ``When we win,'' said Eileen Slocum, national committeewoman from Rhode Island, ``it's often because someone happens to be personally popular.''

Merrill's marauders

``This party is worried about a lot of things,'' said former Bush adviser Ron Kaufman. ``It just lost two presidential elections, and it is trying to figure out why.''

Kaufman, now a Massachusetts GOP committeeman, and his allies saw an opening for New England in this rubble.

``You have to have New England to win nationally,'' Depino said. A dozen years ago, Democrats were in a similar plight: They had just lost two presidential elections, and Republicans seemed to have an electoral lock on Southern states.

Party officials knew they had to broaden their appeal, and in 1992, Clinton, then Arkansas governor, was nominated and ultimately elected.

Now many want the GOP to look to New England for that broader base, and Barbour advised the party to rely more on popular personalities to carry the message.

``The majority of Americans agree with our ideas,'' he said.

So, McKenzie and others hoped, the re-invigoration of the GOP in New England would begin with Merrill.